The death of Billy Graham today has caused me to reflect on how this man impacted me and the moments where our lives intersected. One of the special privileges that the Lord gave me was to serve personally with Billy Graham on two occasions:

During my undergrad years at UNC Chapel Hill, Billy Graham came to speak at a lecture series in 1982 that a number of campus ministries had planned. One event that served as an impetus for this lecture series was the death of his nephew, Sandy Ford, Leighton Ford’s son. Sandy was a contagious Christian who impacted many lives in his short 21 years, including mine.

I was asked to lead the worship for a gathering of Christian students and faculty who were preparing and praying for this series. This initial gathering of believers took place at Memorial Hall in 1982.

On another occasion, I will never forget watching a feeble man struggling with Parkinson’s Disease ascend the stairs to a podium and listening to him energetically and boldly proclaim the gospel to a packed house at River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1991. His messages were broadcast all over the Spanish speaking world at the time. What struck me that week was how evidently the Spirit of God had anointed this country boy from North Carolina to powerfully proclaim the gospel.

On both occasions, I was deeply impacted by how unashamed he was of the simple gospel of grace and how committed he was to living a life of integrity.

O Lord, be pleased to raise up a new generation of men and women like Billy and Ruth Bell Graham and revive us again that your people might rejoice in you (Psalm 85:6)!

After the Lord Jesus greeted Billy, I wonder how many others greeted him in heaven with hearts full of gratitude for leading them to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I bet there is a lot of rejoicing in heaven today, but that is true every day because in the Lord’s presence “there is fullness of joy;at his right hand are pleasures forevermore!” (Psalm 16:11)

The below link is a tribute by FoxNews to the life, legacy, and ministry of Billy Graham.

In Mark 1:38, Jesus states succinctly the reason why He came from the Father:

“Let us go on to the neighboring towns,
so I may preach there also;
that is why I came.”

J.C. Ryle comments in the late 1800s on this verse from Mark’s Gospel:

Let us never be moved by those who cry down the preacher’s office,
and tell us that sacraments and other ordinances
are of more importance than sermons.
Let us give to every part of God’s public worship
its proper place and honor,
but let us beware of placing any part of it above preaching.
By preaching, the Church of Christ
was first gathered together and founded,
and by preaching, it has ever been maintained in health and prosperity.
By preaching, sinners are awakened.
By preaching, inquirers are led on.
By preaching, saints are built up.
By preaching, Christianity is being carried to a lost world.

There are many now who sneer at missionaries,
and mock at those who go out into the highways of our own land,
to preach to crowds in the open air.
But such persons would do well to pause,
and consider calmly what they are doing.
The very work which they ridicule
is the work which turned the world upside down.

Above all, it is the very work which Christ Himself undertook.
The King of kings and Lord of lords Himself was once a preacher.
For three long years He went to and fro proclaiming the Gospel.
Sometimes we see Him in a house, sometimes on the mountain side,
sometimes in a Jewish synagogue, sometimes in a boat on the sea.
But the great work He took up was always one and the same.
He came always preaching and teaching.
He says, “That is why I have come.”

Let us leave the passage with a solemn resolution
never to “despise prophesying.” (1 Thess. 5:20.)
The minister we hear may not be highly gifted.
The sermons that we listen to may be weak and poor.
But after all, preaching is God’s grand ordinance
for converting and saving souls.
The faithful preacher of the Gospel is handling the very weapon
which the Son of God was not ashamed to employ.
This is the work of which Christ has said, “That is why I have come.”

Have you ever wondered why singing is such a prominent feature in corporate worship?

Singing serves as a way to bless and thank our God for who He is and for all that He has done to love and rescue us.

Singing our Lord’s praise is a primary way that we enthrone Him in our hearts (Psalm 22:3).

Singing serves as a means of proclaiming the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. In singing, we commend to others the Jesus that we know and cherish ourselves (1 Corinthians 14:24-25).

Singing enables us to savor God’s Word and makes it more memorable and vivid. The Apostle Paul admonishes us: “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly…singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…” (Colossians 3:16).

Singing changes us. It makes us kinder, gentler, and more reasonable. It also affords peace and joy to our hearts.

Singing galvanizes us to trust God in the midst of trouble (e.g. Paul and Silas sing hymns while persecuted and imprisoned for their faith – Acts 16:25).

Singing serves as a weapon when we are in the midst of spiritual conflict. Martin Luther claims that “the devil flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of God.”

William Cowper, the beloved 18th century English poet and hymnodist, was right:

“Sometimes the light surprises the Christian while he sings. It is the Son who rises with healing in His wings.”

Oh that we might experience anew His healing and transformative work in our hearts as we draw near to worship our Lord!

‘We must pay the greatest attention to what we have heard,
so that we do not drift away (Hebrews 2:1).’
Drifting is the besetting sin of our day.
And as the metaphor suggests, it is not so much intentional as from unconcern. Christians neglect their anchor — Christ — and begin to quietly drift away.
— Kent Hughes

If you examined a hundred people
who had lost their faith in Christianity,
I wonder how many of them would have been reasoned out of it
by honest argument?
Do not most people simply drift away?
— C. S. Lewis

When our anchor begins to lift from our soul’s grasp
of the greatness and supremacy of Jesus Christ,
we become susceptible to subtle tows.
— Alexander Maclaren

Advice to a little girl: If you continue to love Jesus,
nothing much can go wrong with you and I hope you always do so.
— C. S. Lewis

I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene …
No man can read the gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus.
His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.
— Albert Einstein

“Gaze on that helpless object of endless adoration!
Those infant hands
shall burst our bands
and work out our salvation;
Strangle the crooked serpent;
destroy his works forever,
And open set the heavenly gate
to every true believer.”

William Wordsworth, in the early 1800s,
grasped well the significance of the whole book of Revelation.

To a man who suffered bouts of loneliness and heartache
due to the death of both of his parents
by the time he was 13 years old
and his separation from his brothers and sisters, this book was

“a manual of comfort to the Church in her pilgrimage
through this world to the Heavenly Canaan of her rest.
It cheers with the comforting assurance,
that Christ is mightier than His enemies;
that they who die for Him, live;
that they who suffer for Him, reign;
that the course of the Church upon earth
is like the course of Christ Himself;
that she is here a Witness of the Truth;
that her office is to teach the world;
that she will be fed by the Divine Hand,
like the ancient Church, with manna in the wilderness;
that she will be borne on eagles’ wings in her missionary career;
and yet, that she must expect to suffer injuries
from enemies and from friends;
that she, too, must look to have her Gethsemane and her Calvary,
but that she will also have her Olivet;
that through the pains of agony and suffering,
and through the darkness of the grave,
she will rise to the glories of a triumphant ascension,
and to the everlasting joys of the New Jerusalem;
that she who has been for a time
‘the Woman wandering in the Wilderness,’
will be, forever and ever, the Bride glorified in heaven.”